Bay Area lesbian gang-raped

Four men assault a 28-year-old after seeing a gay pride sticker on her car.

Published December 23, 2008 11:50PM (EST)

This news is vile, despicable, reprehensible, wretched -- there just aren't enough condemnatory adjectives in the world to describe it. Four men in the famously liberal San Francisco Bay Area allegedly gang-raped a lesbian, presumably because she dared to display a rainbow gay pride sticker on her car.

The 45-minute attack happened on Dec. 13 in Richmond, Calif., after the 28-year-old got out of her car. The men approached her and " made comments indicating they knew her sexual orientation," according to the Associated Press. Then, one of the men "struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her with the help of the other men." She was then forced into her car and driven to an abandoned building, where she was raped again. The attackers drove off with her car and her wallet. Police are offering a $10,000 award for information about the attack.

Avy Skolnik, of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, told the AP that "anytime there is an anti-LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] initiative" -- like the recent anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives -- "we tend to see spikes both in the numbers and the severity of attacks." He added: "People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice."


By Tracy Clark-Flory

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